Basque terrorist group ETA in Madrid

Police investigating the car bomb which exploded in Madrid yesterday suspect that two members of the terrorist group ETA may be living permanently in Madrid. They base their hypothesis on the fact that the telephone used by the terrorists to ring the Basque newspaper Gara and give their usual bomb warning yesterday was bought in Madrid last November, just before ETA put small bombs in five petrol stations surrounding the Spanish capital city.

Yesterday's bomb was bigger than the bombs planted by ETA recently, and 36 people were slightly injured. The terrorists used the same kind of explosives as the one they used in the car bomb which exploded in Getxo three weeks ago.

Yesterday's incident was a mediatic victory for ETA. The bomb exploded just hours before the King Juan Carlos and Mexican president Fox were due to arrive for the opening of the yearly contemporary art exhibition ARCO in a nearby building. And the news story received instant attention from the worldwide media. However the Spanish Interior Minister, José Antonio Alonso claimed that recent arrests of ETA members have seriously weakened the structure of the terrorist group and that police operations over the next few days would continue to do so.

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